Avengers Academy #20Review

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The young heroes pick up the pieces after Fear Itself.

By Jesse Schedeen

Fear Itself was particularly kind to Avengers Academy, as Christos Gage delivered some of the strongest issues of the book to date. The epilogue to the event doesn't go quite as smoothly, however. The transition from the event to the new direction for Hank Pym's young team is a bit disjointed, if still enjoyable.

Gage covers a lot of ground in this issue, which may be part of the problem in the first place. The early pages chronicle the final moments of the battle against the Serpent before moving onto the literal and metaphorical at of picking up the pieces. Gage focuses heavily on Veil's decision to leave the team, even as other characters debate their own futures as Avengers. Gage also brings potential antagonist Jeremy Briggs back into the picture. The issue tends to jump around between these and other plotlines, not always with the best transitions. There's plenty of strong character work to be had, but other elements like pacing detract from the overall experience. Hopefully that doesn't bode poorly for the next few months as the cast expands. The series suffered early on from a lack of focus on the full team, and it would be a shame for that problem to crop up again.

Tom Raney's art is also a bit underwhelming. It carries a rushed quality through many pages, with a team shot on page 7 looking particularly loose and wonky. As nice as it's been to have this series ship so often this year, a more methodical schedule might not be such a bad thing right now.